Bats in Your Belfry? Backyard a Better Home

QUESTION: We live right below the Angeles National Forest and our area has a lot of mosquitoes. We occasionally see bats and wonder if they can help us with our insect problem.

K.S., La Crescenta

ANSWER: Attracting bats has become very popular among homeowners in the last decade.

Encouraging them by putting a “bat house” on your property is a good idea, at least for the bats. Many species are dwindling because of the loss of natural roosts, and crevice-dwelling bats--big browns, Yuma myosotis, pallids and Mexican free-taileds--benefit from artificial roosting sites.

But don’t expect them to control the mosquitoes around your house. According to Barbara French, a wildlife biologist at Bat Conservation International, bats may put a dent in the number of insects around your home, but they won’t eliminate every bug, just as any predator wouldn’t eat all its prey in one night.

Installing a bat house takes some effort, and bats are particular about where they live and how hot it is. So orientation, color and location all need to be right for them to be attracted to their new home.

Ready-made bat houses and do-it-yourself plans are available from Bat Conservation International. You can reach them at (512) 327-9721 or on the Internet at https://www.batcon.org.

Here are a few tips to attract bats:

* Attach the bat house onto a wood or masonry building or onto a pole away from tree branches and power lines. Crevice-dwelling bats, the ones that would use the house, like easy access to their roosts.

* Hang it at least 15 feet high.

* Paint the outside black but leave the inside unpainted.

* Make sure there’s a ventilation slot or open bottom (most commercially made ones already come with an open bottom).

* Install it where it will get a minimum of six hours of sunlight a day.

* Put up several, if possible, and orient them in different directions so the bats can choose which is most comfortable.

Bats are great fun to watch as they swoop out of their roosts at dusk, but be sure kids know never to touch one that’s on the ground.

Despite the extremely low incidence of bat rabies, estimated at less than one-half of 1%, they’ll bite if they’re cornered, as will any other wild animal.

If you find a downed bat, keep your kids and pets away from it and call Bat Conservation International for a referral to a local wildlife rehabilitator. Or call your local animal control agency, which will pick it up.

If you suspect someone’s been bitten, call your city’s health department or animal control immediately. The bat will have to be tested for rabies.

Traps Are Best Way to Get Rid of Gophers

Q: We recently moved to Woodland Hills and saw a group of flowers get sucked underground by agopher. My backyard goes uphill, and the erosion of the slope could cause damage to my home. There is a service that comes out and sprays for rodents, but obviously that is useless. Should I get a gopher snake?L.M., Woodland Hills

A: You could try stocking the backyard with snakes, but I wouldn’t count on the total elimination of gophers from your yard.

Gophers are everything you’ve heard and probably more: persistent, industrious and, as you’ve witnessed, in no way bashful.

I only know of one permanent solution--a trap called a Macabee. Other strategies just don’t work for homeowners.

Most pest control companies use poison bait. In orchards and alfalfa fields, where gopher damage is a big economic problem, poisoning is an effective control method. But for homeowners with small yards, traps are the best approach.

To trap a gopher with a Macabee:

Attach a short piece of twine or flexible wire and a stake to one end of the trap. Dig away dirt from the newest, wettest mound you can find and fully expose a tunnel. Set the spring-loaded trap and bait it with anything green; lettuce works fine.

Place the trap into the tunnel, anchor the stake into the lawn so the gopher won’t run off with the trap. Some people lightly cover the opening to keep sunlight out. When the gopher triggers the trap, it is crushed when the jaws snap shut. Check the trap in the morning.

Nests Can Be Removed --but Wait Until Fall

Q: Swallows are building their nests on our house. Besides the messy droppings, many babies have fallen out of the nest and onto the cement driveway below. How can we clear the nest and prevent future ones?

P.W., Horsethief Canyon

A: I think you are fortunate. Very industrious nest builders, swallows are a real pleasure to watch as they bring mud pellets one at a time to build their nests.

The two most common swallows that build nests on houses are cliff and barn swallows. Cliff swallows make gourd-shaped nests with a downward-facing hole that serves as an entrance. Barn swallows make a cup-shaped nest.

Both build their nests high under the eaves in a corner, usually where the roof and walls meet. They return every year to the same nest.

Because the birds are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, it’s illegal to destroy their nests if birds or eggs are present, and it’s illegal to remove eggs.

Wait until they head for South America in the fall to take down their nests and put up exclusion netting.

To remove the nests, use a power sprayer nozzle attached to a hose. Spray the area with an insecticide to kill parasites like fleas and mites (taking care to make sure it won’t damage your house or plants).

To keep the birds from building nests there next year, mount sturdy three-quarter-inch plastic netting from the roof line down the side of the building, in a 45-degree angle. Be sure the netting is taut and covers corners or birds can become tangled in it.

Even those readers who like watching them return every year should remove the nests once every few years to kill parasites.

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Critter conflicts? Send your queries to Andrea Kitay at P.O. Box 2489, Camarillo, CA 93011, or via e-mail at adkitay@ix.netcom.com. Please include your name, where you live and as much detail as possible. Questions cannot be answered individually.